


there's a word for it

by minnowtxt



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, ig this is like, yeet bye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 01:08:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17033452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minnowtxt/pseuds/minnowtxt
Summary: jemma doesn't quite know what she is(lack of capitalisation is on purpose! i just don't have the energy to write properly rn)





	there's a word for it

  “i don’t know what i am,” jemma announces to daisy one afternoon.

  they’re sat in jemma’s room, jemma on her bed sketching and daisy at her desk, fiddling with her laptop.

  “huh?” daisy spins the chair around to face her, brows furrowed in confusion.

  “i mean-” jemma screws up her face, chewing the inside of her cheek. she searches for the right words but they don’t piece together correctly. instead, she stumbles out, “um, i don’t- i’m not… i’m not a lesbian.”

  “i mean- uh. oh, dear, that doesn’t sound quite right,” her face reddens and she returns her attention to her sketchpad, fidgeting with the corners of the open page. “i mean that… i’m not a- a lesbian, but i’m not…” _i don’t know how to word this!_ “i’m not entirely straight, i think. but, um, i-”

  daisy nods slowly, confused but encouraging her to continue.

  “half- er, half… gay?” jemma had been too paranoid to google it, in case her parents saw her search history. as far as she knew, they weren’t homophobic, but a small voice niggled at the back of her mind, muttering, _how well do you_ really _know them?_

“i don’t- i’m sorry, this is stupid. let’s just pretend i didn’t say anything.” she picks up her pencil and adds a few unnecessary lines to the flower she had drawn. a daisy, in fact, though not nearly as striking as the one sitting across from her.

  “hey,” daisy reaches across the bed, looping her fingers around jemma’s wrist. her grip was gentle but firm, reassuring. “this is clearly bothering you. it’s not stupid, i promise.”

  timidly, jemma peers up at daisy through her lashes. “i think there’s something wrong with me,” she admits. she blinks, and suddenly her eyes prick with tears. she bows her head.

  “no,” daisy murmurs, standing up and sliding onto the bed. she does so without breaking contact. “there is _nothing_ wrong with you, jem. and you’re not just “half gay”,” she accents the words “half gay” with a crook of her fingers.

  “there’s a word for it, too. liking guys and girls, i mean. it’s bisexual.” daisy says so without judgement, understanding that jemma was raised in a relatively sheltered home. sexuality had always been a relatively taboo subject, and while not out right shunned, the room always became stifling when it was brought up.

  (she recalls with a grimace the time she showed up at jemma’s wearing a pride shirt. her mother had answered the door, startling almost comically when noticing. she seemed just a tad too reluctant to let daisy in without it being awkward.)

  jemma looked at her, then, and her lips wobble. either with tears or a smile, daisy isn’t sure. “is there really?”

  “yeah!” daisy leans backward, grabbing her laptop from the desk. she tapped away for a second, then spun the laptop around to show jemma. in chrome, she had searched “bisexual meaning”. google dictionary read “attracted to both men and women”, and a blue and pink pride flag was shown proudly.

  “oh,” jemma breathed, reading the screen then glancing up to daisy. “um, that’s- that’s… great.”

  sensing that she was a bit overwhelmed, daisy grinned that crooked grin and closed the laptop, setting it beside her. “it’s okay,” she collected jemma’s other hand in her grip, smoothing her palm over her wrists.

  “there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you, whether or not you do or don’t use labels. all that matters is that you’re safe and comfortable, okay?”

  “okay,” jemma agrees, looking at their hands. she was hit by a sudden rush of gratefulness. grateful for this amazing girl, her kindness and understanding. “thank you,” she smiled a bit unsteadily, then withdraws, huffing out a breath.

  “well! what about that movie?” she was already closing her sketchpad, obscuring the messy flower and absent minded hearts she doodled around it.

  “only if it’s spiderman,” said the daisy in front of her, nodding.


End file.
